Dream Girl
by Paladin4Hire
Summary: A secret is revealed at a Liars' sleepover


Emily pulled up outside the Marin house and quickly grabbed her overnight bag and ran inside. She was the last to arrive at the sleepover due to her job at The Brew. She let herself in and proceeded upstairs to Hanna's room, where it sounded like the party was in full swing.

"What's so funny," she asked. "I could hear you guys laughing all the way up the stairs."

Aria, Hanna and Spencer looked at each other and dissolved into a new round of giggles. Despite not knowing what was so funny, Emily couldn't help but join in the contagious laughter.

"Guys, c'mon," she pleaded.

"Okay, okay," said Hanna, holding her stomach. "Tell her Aria."

Emily tossed her bag into the corner and joined the three other girls on the floor. Spencer passed her a drink and Emily turned to Aria. "Let's hear it, shorty."

"Hey," Aria said and slapped Emily's shoulder, while Spencer and Hanna giggled some more. Apparently, the party had started pretty early for these three.

"Soooo," Aria said, "I overhead Mike talking to a couple of his friends the other day. Bragging about girls, that kind of thing. And then they started talking about, well, you know … how they have intense dreams some times? And wake up …"

"What?" Emily said, and more giggling followed.

"C'mon Aria," said Hanna. "Emily needs more to go on than that. Guys aren't her specialty, you know."

Emily arched her brows at Hanna but didn't say anything.

Aria took a drink and made a vague notion with her hand. "You know, they wake up … from a sex dream … with an erection."

Aria whispered the last word and immediately blushed.

Emily felt her own cheeks heat a bit. "Okaaaay, but why is that funny?"

"It's not," Spencer chimed in. "But there's more."

"Anyway," Aria continued, "after they left, we went to watch TV and have some pizza. Mike was acting kind of funny, so I asked him what was wrong. I wasn't sure if he would tell me, but sometimes he still confides in me. Apparently, after I quit listening to their conversation, they ended up talking about dreams they had about people, sometimes celebrities or girls they didn't even really know or even people they didn't like. Mike said one of his friends admitted that he had a … wet dream … about our mom. My mom!"

The girls howled with laughter, and Emily joined in but only to a degree. Perhaps it would be funnier with more alcohol in her system.

"Can you imagine – my mom?" said Aria.

"Your mom's pretty," said Emily.

"Geez, Em, that's not the point," said Hanna. "A lot of our parents are attractive, but I can't imagine having a really explicit sex dream about somebody's dad. Ewww."

"Maybe it's a guy thing," said Spencer. "I know it's not really politically correct, but I do think guys are hardwired to be less in control of their hormones and urges. Survival of the species and that sort of thing."

"Do you really believe that, Spence," asked Aria.

"Well, I'm not saying women don't have the same sexual urges and stuff, but they've done studies that guys are more easily stimulated just by something visual, and that they do think about sex like every seven seconds."

"I think I'm pretty quick to notice good-looking guys," Spencer continued, "and even sometimes _inappropriate ones, _but I've never had a really, truly vivid sex dream."

The girls were all quiet for a moment, thinking.

"So, just to be clear then," said Hanna, "None of us has had a sex dream about one of our dads, or friends' dads?

"No!" Spencer and Aria said together, and then giggled some more.

"That's good," smiled Hanna. "Em?"

"Don't look at me," Emily said quickly.

"I guess it is a guy thing then," Aria said. "I guess you were right, Spencer. We must be – "

"Hey, wait a minute," Hanna interrupted, pointing a finger at Emily and smiling wickedly. "Maybe we should have changed the question for you. Any sexy dreams about moms, Em?"

The girls laughed again and Emily smiled, hoping to pass the question off as too silly to answer. "Really, Hanna," she said and stood up to get her bag. "I think I'll get changed. Be back in a minute."

Emily stood with her back to the girls, hand on the door ready to leave. _Just let it go, Hanna, please. Just this once._

"You didn't answer Em. Don't think I didn't notice," said Hanna.

Emily didn't turn around. Spencer, Aria and Hanna watched as her shoulders and back visibly tensed.

"Okay," she mumbled. "Give me a minute. I'm gonna change."

"Hanna!"

Hanna covered her ears. "Geez guys, not in stereo okay!"

Nobody said anything for a moment, until Hanna blurted, "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything. I wasn't expecting her to say yes, I just … it was kind of like leaving her out and not acknowledging that she's gay, you know?"

Emily had only come out to her friends a couple of months ago. Though they had all offered immediate support and acceptance, there was still a big mystery surrounding their friend's feelings on the subject, and no one really knew what to ask, or what not to ask.

Leave it to Hanna to make the first big faux pas.

"Look, when she comes back, we just tell her to forget it," said Spencer. "It's not like it matters, we were just being silly anyway."

"Okay," said Aria, and both girls turned to Hanna.

"What?"

The door clicked and Emily stepped in, freshly changed into sweats and a tank top. She tossed her bag in the corner again and reached for her cup. "Top me off, Spencer?"

Emily reclaimed her spot on the floor and took a big drink. She hadn't made eye contact with anyone yet. "So, where were we?" she asked.

"Emily, we didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. You don't have to answer that. We were just being silly," offered Aria.

"That's right Em," added Hanna. "I was just trying to, you know, not ignore that you aren't the same as us."

"Hanna!"

"Stop doing that," Hanna glared at Spencer and Aria, before realizing what she'd said to Emily. " Oh shit, Em, that's not what I meant. Just that you don't feel the same about guys as we do, so I didn't want to leave you out. That's what I meant."

"Look, like Aria said, it's not important. We're being silly. Let's move on to something else," Spencer added.

Emily traced her finger around the edge of her cup and kept her eyes lowered. She appreciated her friends' readiness to let her off the hook, but wasn't so sure how she felt about that. _Are they doing this for me, or are they uncomfortable hearing about it? Am I more uncomfortable than I would be if it had been an older man I dreamed about? _ Emily shuddered a bit at that last thought.

She took a deep breath. What had started as a joke suddenly seemed important to the future of her relationship with her friends. They prided themselves on their closeness, and Emily already felt like she had carried more secrets than the other girls.

"Ask me again, Hanna."

Spencer, Aria and Hanna looked at each other, unsure how to proceed. Emily still wasn't looking at them, but her voice had been strong, sure. Spencer nodded once at Hanna.

"So, Em, have you ever had a sex dream about the mom of a friend?"

"Yes, I have." Emily finally looked up, revealing a look both fearful and challenging. "How much do you want to know?"


End file.
